I’ve been busy. You may have noticed my silence. Thus it was with more than a little soul searching that I decided to put my name on the ballot for the local city council. This post is the first essay of that candidacy. It is my response to the question: Please write a 500-word essay telling us about yourself and why you are seeking this position.
I am independent, thoughtful and creative. My word is my bond. I feel the most important thing a man has is his honor. Nobody can take it from you, but those who give their honor away don’t deserve it, or the respect of honest men.
I earned everything I have with hard work and careful husbandry. I am industrious, practical and generous. I strongly resent anyone who wants to take life, liberty or property from me or anyone else under any guise whatsoever.
Over a decade ago I selected Idaho for the spirit of personal responsibility that was more a part of this culture than in most western states. My political activism from 2000 on has been devoted to fostering that independent spirit in any way I can.
Politics attracts those who would live at the expense of others as well as those who enjoy power over others. The worst political decisions transfer money and power personally to the politicians and their cronies. While morally superior, ignorant mistakes made with public money and authority is just as destructive of life, liberty and property.
While I have no interest in spending other peoples’ money or controlling what they do with their property, the actions of the Kuna city council desperately need to be balanced by someone who understands how destructive central planning and central control are.
Major mistakes have been made by recent Kuna city councils. Businesses have been brought to collapse, made to suffer or given up on the effort to open in Kuna. Vacancies in Kuna commercial property fall squarely in the lap of the city council. We can no longer afford control by those who cannot possibly understand what it takes to successfully operate every business in our town or those that could be here.
I am running for this office to challenge each and every assumption brought before the Kuna City Council. Every proposal and proponent before this board needs to stand up to that challenge.
Every dollar of public money needs to be squeezed in full view of competing open-market solutions.
Every regulation or rule controlling what people do with their private property needs to survive scrutiny before becoming ordinance or law.
I am not against action by the city council. I will definitely be eager to hear good ideas and will willingly vote for constructive council actions. I am running for that office simply to regularly raise a voice on the city council for free-market, personal-responsibility, pro-liberty solutions.
You don’t need city councilmen who are smarter than all 10,000 Kuna adults combined, you just need some who know that they aren’t and who are prepared to act on the implications of that knowledge.